Ezra s



E. S. HOYT.

AUTOMATIC WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.27.1914.

1,310,160. I Puimlt'wfdJuy 15, 1919.

I' larly relates to such control s z En STATES refr ernten.

Ezm s. non', or Los ANGELES, cemroanm.

y AUTOMATIC WATEBFHEATER.

To all whom t may concern:

' Be it known that I, EzRA S. Hor'r, a citi zen of the United States of America, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have in Vented a new and useful Automatic Water- Heater, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to water heaters of the automatic t e. In such heaters a heat- )ing coil is provi ed throu h which water is circulated andagainst w ich heated gases are fdirected, the quantity of heated gases supplied being regulated by vthe amount of Water passing through the heater thus giv-l ing an approximately constant temperature to such waterregardless of the amount consumed. There yhave 4already been devised various'heaters of this ty e. The particular feature which has ma esuch automatic heaters possible, and one feature in which the various types of heaters essentially differ is'in the structure of the regulating orv control means whereby. the iiow of gas is controlled to give an ,even' temperature to the issuing water with a variable How of such. water. 'My invention more partlcumeans.`

My invention provides a heater withl a regulator which will starter stop the iiow of gases as the flow of water through the heater is started or stopped.

l erable pressures be Such heaters -find4 their eatest market for domesticpurposes and),fr they are operated lwithout, intelligent supervision. It ,is necessary in such a heater that excessive object of the in which the pressure can never rise maf terially abovethe pressure of the water,

vsu ply.l

n the common forms of automatic 'waterA heaters employing a drop in water pressure as the as controlling means, any considow of. water through the heater opens, 'or holds open, the 'as valve so that feel isbn'rned and the We is heated.: I#

or regulating Fig. 2.

trol valve.l

guarded against. The principal invention is to provide a heater.

specification ofreaasrafent. y Patented .any i5, raie. .appliance alea augua 27,1914. ser-1am. assess.

partly open, orl there is a small leak vdue .heater continuously uses gas, and lin such heaters it is common practice to supplyy an auxlliary thermostat to take care of this difficulty. In my invention gas is consumed only when water is flowing freely through the heater, the supply of as being shut off whenever v this flow is reduced to a value equal to approximatelyhalf the capacity of the heater.

vOther objects and advantages will be evident to one skilled in the art from the ann exed drawing and the following specilication.

In this drawing which is for illustrative purposes only: l 1

Figure l is an elevation of a water heater embodying the invention in which a portion ofthe heater 1s shown insection on an axialA Fig. 3 is an elevation of the parts shown 4 -in Fig. 2, a distorted section being shown to better illustrate the invention.

Fig. 4 is a rsection on the line :vteof Fig. 5 is a 10 isa heating coil which is su plied with heated gases from a f'burner 11. he supply of gas to this burner is controlled by a gas valve 12 which in turn .is governed by a control valve 13. I Water is supplied through a `water inlet pipe 2O which is threaded into a control valve casing 21, a cover 22 being threaded thereon and provided-with packing .23 to make atight Joint therewith. lThe water inlet pipe 20 is 'in open cominunication with a water inlet chamber 24. This water inlet chamber communicates throu h a passage 25 with a cylinder 26 formed mj the control valve casing 21. Sliding freely inthe cylinder 2.6- is a piston 27 having a projection 28 which extends into an opening 1n the cap '22 and having a. piston rod 29 which entends downwardly tM-e'tz'gh the bets diagrammatic view of the oone trol va tom of the control valve casing 21. The piston 27 divides the cylinder 26 into an upper pressure chamber 30 and a lower pressure chamber 31, the upper pressure chamber 30 being always in open communication with the source of water supply vthrough the opening 25 and: thewater inlet openin be described. Between thewater inlet cham-4' ber 24 aiid the 'opening 33 an opening 34 .is provided extending substantially at r1 t angles thereto, this opening being adapte to be partly closed# by a valve stem which-1s threaded `into the control valve body 21 and extends through the side thereof across the-opening 33- in the arm and hasa taper# ing'valve adapted' to partly close the open' ing 34 from the water inlet chamber 24, as' illustrated in Figs. 3.and 4. A gland 36 and packing 37 .make a tight closure be# tween the valve stem 35 and thecontrol' valve casing 21f-. The valve sem 3.5 and' its relative parts form ya water' adjusting valve and providea throttled connection betweenl the coil 10 'and the water. inlet pipe 20, and* between the upper pressure' chamber 30 and the lower pressure chamber 31.-

The' valve stem v29' extends downwardly through a gland 38 which is threaded' on the'- control' valve casing 21 and which presses' downwardly upon a follower 39 which com-- pressesi packing 40'thus making a tight 'closure around the piston rod' 29'- where it pass'es through the control valve casing 21. A bracket 41 is'secured to the bottom of the control valve casing' 21'by means of screws 42 and is secured -by means of screws 43 to a gas valve casing 44. Secured to the gas* valve casing 44;' by means of screws 45v is a gas cap 46, packing 47 being provided for? making the closure between the members 44 and 46 a tight one. A gland 48 is threaded tof the gas valve casing 44 and presses down upon a follower 49 which compresses packing 50,l thus making a tight clos-ure around the pistonI rod 29E where it'passes into the' gas valve casing 44. The gas valve,casing' 44is tapped at one side for the reception of' a gas inlet pipe 51 which is "connected through a valve 52 with a gas supply pipe- 53 which is connected to the source of gas supply. The gas pipe 51 is in open communication-With a gas chamber 54 formed' in the' gas valve c'asing 44, and 'an opening 55 isy provided between the chamber 54 and the interior oi the cap 46. This" opening is normally closed by a valve 56 which is provided with packing: 5K1 and which is held' in place by a compression spring 58.v The valve 56 is rigidly fastened to the piston 4 witha valve 60l to regulate' the amount of llame therein.` A pipe' 61 is'threaded'into the bottom of the 'cap 12 and is in open v communication with a mixing chamber 62 of the burner 1'1 which is provided with air inlets 63.- ,llhe burner 11 has' the form shown in Fig. 1 and is provided with a pluralityy lof small holes 64 through which the mixed air and gas escape and' are ignited auxiliary supply of air is also provided for openings'e formed' i'n a base Scand' passing upwardly to' theburner 11, being' directed against the ame by deect'o'rs 67 and 68' formed 'on the base 66 An outer shell 69, preferably formed* 'of twox thicknesses of metal, is provided' s'ecured to the base 66 and extending up and 'heilig'tapped` at 70 for-the reception of'tihe arm' of the' water' control vvalve casing' 21.

A top' 71 is 'secured' tothe upper end of' the' outer' shell 69, this top being provided with a Hue 72 in' open' communication' with the vent' `pipe 73; A cold" water' header A74 is provided secured to the arm 'of the water control valve -casin'g 21 'and having' its interior in open eemnnmicationwithv the opening 33' thereof. Three parallel heating ee'il's 75' are' provided.y these' heating' coils b'ei'ng arranged' asshown in Fig;l 1' and' being in open communication at their lower end with the Coldwater header 74` and in open communicationfat their upper en'd'- with the hot water header 76 which is connected to lthe hot water outlet pipe 77. A central rodl 78 tends to hold the previously'describedL parts together' and' an inner deiie'cting tube 79 is placed inside` the coil 7 5.

The method of operation of the invention is as follows: Water is supplied to the upper the water inlet chamber 24 and the opening' 25. The pressure in the upper pressure chamber 30 is therefore thatof the supply main less 'a very small-.amount due t'o the' drop in the service pipes leading' thereto.

This drop i's however very' small and may,

'pressure chamber '30 through the pipe 20',

so I by the fiame'fro'm-xthe pilot tube 60. An

ast

of the valve 60 to provide a continuously.

and the pilot flame is regulated by means burning pilot-llame adjacent to the burner 11. When waterlis withdrawnthroughthe water outlet pipe 77 its place in the coils 75 is supplied by waterfrom the water inlet .pipe 2O passing through the opening 34 Ithe pressure necessary to carry the water through the heater to the open faucet. The

, drop in pressure between the opening 33 and valve stem 35'.

the water inlet chamber 24 is proportional to the amount of water flowing through the opening 34 with a 'ven setting of the valve stem 35 and this ri'op in pressure may be increased with a given flow of water'by further closing the o ening 34 by means ofthe gince the pressure in the opening 33 is less than the pressure in the water inlet chamber 24 it is evident that the pressure in the upper pressure chamber 30 is greater than the pressure in' the lower 1 pressure chamber 31 'since the pressure chamer 3() is in open communication with the water inlet chamber 24, and the lower pressure chamber 31 is in open communication with the opening 33. With an excess of pressure inthe upper pressure chamber 30 over the pressure in the lower pressure chamber 31 it is evident that there will exist a pressure on the top of the piston 27 tending v to force it downwardly and that this preset wardly sure will be transmitted through the piston rod 29 to the valve 56. ThisI pressure is resisted by the spring 58, the resistance of the spring 58 vvincreasing rapidly as the valve 56 is pushed downwardly. It is evident therefore with an excess pressure acting upon the piston `27 that the valve 56 1s pushed downwardly from its seat. As the valve 56 is lifted from its seat gas is allowed to flow through the opening 55 into the interior of the cap 46 and through the pipe 6 1 into the mixing chamber 62 where it 1s mixed with air admitted through the openinar 63, the combustible mixture passing up to the burner ll'and emerging through the series of small holes 64 formed therein. The combustible mixture is ignited by the pilot flame, a ring of burning. as resulting. Air is suppliedto the sides o? this burning ring through the opening 65- and is forced against the side of the flame by means of the deliectors 67 and 68 with the result that there is always an excess of oxy en on the outer surface of the flame whic results in a very complete and perfect combustion of both the carbon and the hydrogen in the dame. The

ases from the burner 11 pass upxetween the deiiecting tube 79` and heated @il l the pipe`77A is materiallv obstructed and the fiow of water through the opening 34 is materially cutV down the pressures in the chambers 30 and 31 are practically equalized. There is therefore only a slight unbalanced pressure on the piston 27 which the tension `of the spring 58 overcomes and closes the -valve 56, the supply of' gas passing to the b urner thereby being shut olf. This shuttmg of of the gas is accomplished if there 1s a considerable dow through the pipe 77.

. In practice the spring 58 is made sufficiently strong to close the valve 57 even with half the capacity of the heater flowing throu h the pipe 77. This results in shutting ofi' t e gas even if there is a considerable leakage in the supply faucet.

There are at the present time in the market water heaters having regulators in which the water pressure is allowed toact on the top of apiston for the purpose of opening the gas valve. Such heaters commonly connect thewater'supply directly on top ofthe piston and provide a .port in the cylinder walls vwhich is uncovered by the piston and through which the heating coils are supplied.V Ip such aheater it is necessary for the piston to have considerable travel before any .water whatever is suppliedto the heating coils. My invention should not be confused with heaters of this type asi in my invention the water supplv is always in communication with the heating coils, a free. passage being provided through the openingl 34. is opening -is partly throttled but is never entirely closed in practice. Tn case the valve 56 fails to work for any reason and excess heat is supplied to the heating coils 75 there is never any possi` lbility in my invention of the pressure rising materially above that of the source of supply as this pressure can relieve itself through the opening 34. claim as my invention: An automatic water heater comprising a Water control valve provided with a valve.- casing constructed with a cylinder, having a water inlet chamber, a passage between the water inlet chamber and the upper part of the cylinder, an arm on the cylinder having any opening, an opening in the lower part of the cylinder, connecting with the opening in the arm and an opening between the water inlet chamber and vthe opening in the arm extending substantially at right angles thereto, a piston in the cylinder dividing it into an upper pressure chamber and a lower pressure chamber, a valve stem extending across the opening in the arm and formed with a tapering yalve adapted to partly close the opening from the Water inlet cham- 5.ber, a gas valve 4casing constructed with a gas chamber, andan opening from the gas chamber, a valve or said opening, means whereby the Water control valve casing is connected with the gas' valve casing, a piston 120 rod extending from the piston and connected nam-'reo to the gas Valve, and a spring' for seating the -valve against the` opening from. the lgas chamber. x v Y In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand' at Los Angeles, California, this I5 FORGE W. HARRIS, FRED A. MANsFmLD. 

